A fuel lid-lock device operates a fuel lid provided in a vehicle so as to be enabled to open and close a fuel feed opening of the vehicle. The fuel lid-lock device holds the fuel lid in is held in a locked state and further switches over between locked and unlocked state. Specifically, when a leading end of an advancing-and-retracting slide member is meshed with an engaging hole of the fuel lid, the fuel lid is held in the locked state. Further, when the leading end of the slide member is released from the engaging hole, the fuel lid is switched over from the locked state to the unlocked state.
Known mechanisms for driving the advance and retraction of the slide member includes a type employing a sector gear (a sectorial-shaped gear that performs reciprocating motion within a certain angular range) as disclosed in JP 2001-065215 A as well as other type employing a worm wheel made up of a large-diameter gear and a small-diameter gear.
The slide member protrudes outward from a casing in which a motor and other elements are accommodated. In general, the casing has a divided structure composed of a lower case and an upper case. In some cases, however, the casing is not divided into the lower case and the upper case in its part where the leading end of the slide member advances and retracts and moreover is fixed on the vehicle body side. This arrangement is intended to achieve rattling-free smooth advancing-and-retracting motions of the slide member and thereby effective prevention of water penetration into the casing. In this arrangement, the slide member runs through the lower case so as to protrude outward of the casing.